JAWS and the 2025 Hall of Fame Ballot: Ben Zobrist

The next article is a part of Jay Jaffe’s ongoing have a look at the candidates on the BBWAA 2025 Corridor of Fame poll. For an in depth introduction to this yr’s poll, and different candidates within the collection, use the device above; an introduction to JAWS could be discovered right here. For a tentative schedule, see right here. All WAR figures confer with the Baseball Reference model except in any other case indicated.

Calling Ben Zobrist a utility participant — or perhaps a superutility participant, on condition that he may play the outfield in addition to the infield — is like calling Citizen Kane a film a few sled. Unrecruited out of highschool, and later unheralded as a prospect resulting from his age, he seemingly got here out of nowhere to emerge as a star for the upstart Tampa Bay Rays, and in doing so eliminated the stigma of transferring between positions frequently. On the offensive facet, “Zorilla” was a switch-hitter with elite plate self-discipline, mid-range energy, and a minimal platoon cut up. As a defender, he offered average-or-better protection at second base and the outfield corners, and will play passably at just a few different positions as properly. Because of that mixture, he helped change the best way groups considered roster building, giving the extra inventive ones the pliability to cobble collectively multiposition platoons.

Zobrist made solely three All-Star groups in his 14-year profession, however he helped his golf equipment attain the postseason eight instances in an 11-year span (2008–18). From 2009–14, he ranked among the many recreation’s most dear gamers by WAR, and within the years adjoining to that stretch, he helped the Rays (2008), Royals (2015), and Cubs (2016) attain the World Collection. He was the World Collection MVP within the final of these seasons, when the Cubs gained their first title in 108 years, and even received a breakfast cereal named after him, Zorilla Crunch! If not for his late begin — he didn’t get greater than 250 plate appearances in a season till age 28 — he may need had an actual shot at making noise on this Corridor of Fame poll as a substitute of going one-and-done.

Benjamin Thomas Zobrist was born on Might 26, 1981 in Eureka, Illinois. His father Thomas was (and stays) the senior pastor at Liberty Bible Church, whereas his mom Cindi works alongside her husband as an administrative assistant. Like many gamers, the youthful Zobrist received an early style of baseball although yard Wiffle ball video games, however for this household, that variant of the sport was a ardour. Tom loved the best way a pitcher may make the ball transfer, and took an curiosity in switch-hitting. Ben, who rooted for the Cardinals and whose favourite participant was shortstop Ozzie Smith, tried switch-hitting as properly.

The household turned so invested in Wiffle ball that they constructed a diamond of their yard, with white spray-painted foul traces, bases secured within the floor, a mound with a pitching rubber, an outfield bounded by backyard fencing, and 20-foot poles topped by vivid lights. “All we needed to do was run an extension twine from the home, and we had the one Wiffle ball subject lit for evening video games in Illinois, maybe your complete nation,” wrote Ben in Double Play, the 2014 e-book he co-authored along with his spouse Julianna. Younger Ben created a four-team league with 5 gamers per group, with t-shirt uniforms (purchased with $10-per-player dues) and league guidelines. Typically the boys would play so late that Tom needed to impose a midnight curfew.

When Ben received to highschool, he was one of many smallest youngsters in his class, however he impressed the Eureka Excessive College baseball coach, Bob Gold. “Ben was somewhat man, possibly 5-foot-3, 110 kilos,” Gold advised the Peoria Journal Star’s Kirk Wessler in 2016. “Though he was somewhat twerp, I threw him within the outfield and he ran down each fly ball. He was a winner. I used to be constructing a program and on the lookout for guys with grit… [H]e helped flip this system round.”

Zobrist lastly hit a progress spurt throughout his junior yr, rising to 6-foot-1, 150 kilos. He turned the place to begin guard on the college’s basketball group, and in baseball he pitched and performed the sphere. It wasn’t till the summer time after his junior yr that he received severe about switch-hitting. After an American Legion recreation, with the assistance of teammate Jake Eigsti, he took a crack at batting from the left facet. Based on Wessler:

“I rotated left-handed, to faux I used to be Ken Griffey, Jr… Jake pitched, and I smoked just a few. He’s like, ‘Dude, you may hit left-handed!’ And I believed, properly, possibly somewhat bit. That was the primary time I ever tried it with a heavier bat.”

The subsequent spring, Gold gave Zobrist the inexperienced gentle to strive switch-hitting in video games. Even so, he didn’t get any consideration from scouts or school recruiters in highschool. He deliberate to go to bible school and turn out to be a minister, and believed his baseball days have been behind him, however Gold inspired him to attend a tryout camp in Peoria. His father wouldn’t foot the $50 payment, so he used leftover birthday cash from his grandparents to pay his manner. He impressed a recruiter from Olivet Nazarene College, a close-by NAIA college, and accepted a scholarship supply contingent upon him pitching, which wasn’t his first alternative. He did in order a freshman, and after the group had gone by 5 different shortstops that season, he performed properly sufficient on the spot that he turned the starter there. He doubled as shortstop and nearer throughout his sophomore season (2002), throughout which he earned all-conference, all-region, and NAIA Honorable Point out All-America honors. As a junior he switched to second base (whereas nonetheless closing) and have become the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Convention Participant of the Yr and a first-team NAIA All-American.

Wanting to check himself in Division I, Zobrist transferred to Dallas Baptist College for his senior yr, the place he starred at shortstop, hitting .378, slugging .590, stealing 22 bases, and main his college to the 2004 Nationwide Christian Faculty Athletic Affiliation championship. The Astros drafted him within the sixth spherical that yr, and signed him for a $55,000 bonus. Solely two 2004 draftees outproduced him within the majors: second-rounder Dustin Pedroia (51.9 WAR) and first-rounder Justin Verlander (80.5 WAR and counting).

Already 23 years outdated, Zobrist started his skilled profession within the Low-A New York-Penn League, the place he hit .339/.438/.463 with 4 homers and 15 steals in 68 video games for the Astros’ Tri-Cities affiliate. Baseball America rated him because the league’s no. 5 prospect, noting that if not for his age, he may need topped the record and added, “Managers raved about his hitting potential from either side of the plate, his protection at shortstop, his velocity, his work ethic and his 6-foot-3, 200-pound body… his dimension may precipitate a transfer to 3rd base. His wonderful plate self-discipline and first rate hole energy ought to give him sufficient bat to play on the sizzling nook.”

Zobrist continued to submit excellent on-base percentages whereas splitting his 2005 and ’06 seasons between two ranges. He hit a mixed .314/.437/.443 with 84 walks and 18 steals in 110 video games at two A-level stops in 2005, and .323/.428/.456 with 65 walks and 13 steals in 101 video games at Double-A Corpus Christi and Triple-A Durham in ’06. It was between that second pair of stints that he was traded; on July 12, the Astros despatched him and pitcher Mitch Talbot to Tampa Bay in trade for pending free agent Aubrey Huff, who provided all of 0.2 WAR for Houston, or 35.1 lower than Zobrist gave his new group.

Lower than three weeks after buying him, Tampa Bay known as him up. He made his main league debut on August 1, 2006 towards the Tigers, with Verlander hanging him out wanting in his first plate look; he and three relievers held Zobrist to an 0-for-4 evening. Zobrist went hitless in his first 11 plate appearances earlier than recording a single off Purple Sox ace Curt Schilling on August 4. Two days later, he went 2-for-3 with a solo residence run off Boston’s Jason Johnson and a two-run double off Manny Delcarmen. On September 2, he turned a part of the primary (and nonetheless the one) 2-6-2 triple play in main league historical past. After J.P. Howell struck out the Mariners’ Raul Ibanez wanting, catcher Dioner Navarro threw to Zobrist, who got here throughout the bag and chased down Adrian Beltré, who tried to retreat to first after trying to steal second. After tagging Beltré, Zobrist fired residence to nail Jose Lopez making an attempt to attain.

Amid the highlights, Zobrist hit simply .224/.260/.311 (48 OPS+) in 48 video games for a squad that went 61-101 in Joe Maddon’s first yr as Satan Rays supervisor. They improved to 66-96 in 2007, however Zobrist’s profession went sideways. He broke camp with the group however struggled mightily, and was despatched all the way down to Durham in mid-Might. Whereas there, he battled extreme anxiousness points that affected his sleeping and consuming. Even whereas performing properly sufficient to get recalled, he struggled. He performed simply 12 extra video games within the majors that yr earlier than struggling a season-ending indirect pressure. In 105 plate appearances, he hit a cringeworthy .155/.184/.206 (4 OPS+).

In 2007, after transferring to Nashville to additional his spouse’s singing profession, Zobrist met Jamie Cevallos, a former Division 1A infielder who turned a hitting guru and known as himself “The Swing Mechanic.” Cevallos helped Zobrist rework his swing to generate far more energy, “[I]n comparatively easy phrases, he modified the best way Zobrist makes use of his entrance knee and the way his bat will get by the zone,” wrote the Tampa Bay Instances’ Marc Topkin. “Most of his enchancment has been earlier than the swing occasion happens,” Cevallos advised Topkin. “The tip of the stride units him up to make use of his greater muscular tissues in his swing.”

Zobrist was on his strategy to making the rechristened Rays out of spring coaching in 2008 when he fractured his left thumb. He lastly debuted on Might 15, however performed in simply seven video games earlier than being optioned, and even a two-game, two-homer stint in late June wasn’t sufficient to maintain him round. After the Rays known as him up once more in early July to exchange injured shortstop Jason Bartlett, who suffered a knee sprain, Zobrist prolonged his streak to 3 straight video games with a house run by hitting a solo shot towards the Royals’ Horacio Ramirez on July 5. He hit two extra in that stint, together with one on July 23, however was optioned to Durham once more when Bartlett returned. Lastly on August 5, Zobrist was known as up for good. Splitting his time between left subject, shortstop, and second base, he completed at .253/.339/.505 (120 OPS+) with 12 residence runs in 62 video games — as many as he’d hit in any respect ranges in 2006 and ’07 mixed.

The Rays, who hadn’t gained greater than 70 video games in any of their first 10 seasons, gained 97 video games and the AL East title. Zobrist performed sparingly within the postseason because the group beat the White Sox and Purple Sox to advance to the World Collection towards the Phillies. His lone hit in 13 plate appearances that fall was a single off Cole Hamels within the World Collection opener.

The subsequent yr, Zorilla broke out. Enjoying each place however pitcher and catcher at the least as soon as — primarily sharing proper subject duties earlier than taking on at second base whereas Akinori Iwamura missed three months resulting from a meniscus tear — he made his first All-Star group and hit .297/.405/.543 (149 OPS+) with 27 homers, 17 steals, and an AL-high 8.6 WAR; his on-base share ranked fourth, his slugging share seventh. The Rays sank to 84 wins that yr, however gained the AL East in 2010 and claimed a Wild Card berth in ’11. Whereas Zobrist gained safety with a four-year, $18 million extension signed in April 2010 — one which had two extra membership choices — his energy dissipated, and he missed time resulting from a decrease again pressure. However even whereas hitting .238/.346/.353 (96 OPS+) with simply 10 homers, he went 24-for-27 in steals and was price 4.6 WAR due to his 16 DRS, largely whereas taking part in proper subject and second base however with a while at 4 different positions. He drove within the Rays’ solely runs in Division Collection Video games 1 and 5, the primary of which got here on a solo homer off the Rangers’ Cliff Lee, but it surely wasn’t sufficient for Tampa Bay to advance.

Zobrist rebounded in 2011, hitting .269/.353/.469 with 20 residence runs, 19 stolen bases, and seven.6 WAR (fifth within the league). He performed a key function in serving to the Rays eke out a playoff spot, homering 4 instances within the their closing seven video games; they went went 6-1 throughout that stretch to beat a 2.5-game deficit within the Wild Card race. On the ultimate evening of the season, with the Rays down 7-0 towards the Yankees within the eighth inning, Zobrist adopted up a Johnny Damon single with a double, serving to to kindle a six-run rally in a recreation that Tampa Bay gained in 12 innings, thus beating out Boston for a postseason berth. Although Zobrist collected hits in all 4 video games of the Division Collection rematch with the Rangers, the Rays have been knocked out as soon as once more by the eventual AL champs.

In 2012, Zobrist moved again to shortstop for the ultimate two months of the season and contributed common protection, spectacular since he hadn’t performed the place since 2009; his 47 video games there have been his most since ’06. He hit .270/.377/.471 (137 OPS+) with 20 residence runs and 5.8 WAR (sixth within the league) for a group whose 90 wins wasn’t sufficient for a playoff spot.

Zobrist’s energy waned over his closing two seasons with the Rays; he hit a mixed .273/.354/.398 (114 OPS+) with 22 homers, 21 steals, and a sturdy 9.6 WAR in 2013–14. He made his second All-Star group in 2013 whereas additionally serving to the Rays declare a Wild Card berth, however his lone second of significance within the postseason was a solo homer off Jon Lester that was adopted by 12 unanswered runs from the Purple Sox, who gained the Division Collection in 4 video games. The Rays picked up Zobrist’s choices for 2014 ($7 million) and ’15 ($7.5 million), however in January of the latter yr, they traded him to the A’s together with Yunel Escobar in trade for John Jaso, Boog Powell, Daniel Robertson, and money.

That commerce closed the best chapter of Zobrist’s profession. Through the 2009–14 span, he’d hit a mixed .270/.364/.437 for a 123 OPS+ whereas averaging 17 homers, 16 steals, and 6.0 WAR; his 36.1 WAR over that stretch ranked third amongst all main league place gamers, behind solely Robinson Canó (39.8) and Miguel Cabrera (38.9).

Zobrist didn’t keep lengthy in Oakland, which after successful 88 video games and claiming a Wild Card spot in 2014 was on its manner all the way down to a 68-94 season, having traded away Josh Donaldson and some different key gamers. Zobrist performed solely 67 video games for the A’s, lacking a month resulting from surgical procedure to restore a torn meniscus in his left knee. On July 28, about two months after returning to motion, he was traded once more, this time to the Royals — the reigning AL champions — in trade for pitchers Aaron Brooks and Sean Manaea. Filling in for the injured Alex Gordon in left subject and Omar Infante at second base, he gave Kansas Metropolis’s lineup one other powerful out.

The Royals ran away with the AL Central, and for the primary time, Zobrist put collectively a memorable postseason run whereas serving to the Royals win all of it. He hit a mixed .303/.365/.515, and drove within the deciding run of Division Collection Sport 2 towards the Astros with a seventh-inning single off Will Harris. Within the ALCS towards the Blue Jays, he collected three doubles in a dropping trigger in Sport 3, and homered off R.A. Dickey in Sport 4 and David Value in Sport 6, each Royals wins. He went 3-for-6 with a stroll within the World Collection opener towards the Mets; his 14th-inning single towards Bartolo Colon despatched Alcides Escobar to 3rd, organising Eric Hosmer’s walk-off sacrifice fly. In Sport 4, after tying a postseason document along with his eighth double, off Steven Matz, he walked and scored the tying run amid the decisive three-run eighth-inning rally. Within the clinching Sport 5, he was deliberately walked simply earlier than Lorenzo Cain broke the sport open within the twelfth inning as properly.

A free agent for the primary time, Zobrist landed a four-year, $56 million take care of the Cubs, a transfer that reunited him with Maddon. The contract was a little bit of a shock on condition that he was getting into his age-35 season and coming off his lowest WAR (2.4) since 2008, as his protection had slipped to properly under common (-8 DRS). His glovework remained subpar (-6 DRS) inside his common mixture of positions, however total he carried out properly in his first yr with Chicago. He was elected to start out the All-Star Sport at second base, and hit .272/.386/.446 (121 OPS+) with 18 residence runs — his highest whole since 2012 — and three.4 WAR. The Cubs gained 103 video games and the NL Central, then beat the Giants in a four-game Division Collection and the Dodgers in a six-game NLCS earlier than going the gap to beat Cleveland within the World Collection. Zobrist went simply 6-for-36 in the course of the first two collection, however he took residence World Collection MVP honors by hitting .357/.419/.500. His final hit was his greatest, a one-out RBI double off Bryan Shaw within the tenth inning of Sport 7, placing the Cubs forward to remain.

Age appeared to catch as much as Zobrist in 2017, when he missed time with irritation in his left wrist and was beset by nagging neck and again points as properly. He crashed to a 79 OPS+ and 0.1 WAR, however bounced again with an distinctive 2018 marketing campaign (.305/.378/.440, 117 OPS+, 3.5 WAR) at age 37. Sadly, his 2019 season was one thing of a nightmare. He began slowly, then took a depart of absence from the group in early Might for what was initially described as private causes however was quickly revealed to be marital points. Each he and spouse Julianna individually filed for divorce after 14 years of marriage, and the small print of their cut up turned public when he alleged in a 2021 lawsuit that she had been having an affair with their minister, whom he sued for defrauding his charitable basis, looking for $6 million in damages. The lawsuit was finally dropped, and the small print of the divorce ruling weren’t made public.

Zobrist returned to the Cubs that September and carried out higher, albeit on a group that coughed up a Wild Card spot by way of a nine-game dropping streak, a collapse that wound up costing Maddon his job. On September 29, in what turned out to be Zobrist’s closing main league recreation, he moved to a brand new place: pitcher. With the Cubs behind 9-0, he threw a scoreless eighth inning, strolling two however hanging out Yadier Molina. That makes him one among 4 first-year candidates on this poll whose solely main league pitching appearances got here in 2019, together with Ichiro Suzuki, Russell Martin (4 appearances!), and Ian Kinsler, the final of whom pitched in his closing main league recreation as properly.

Over the winter of 2019–20, Zobrist revealed that he wasn’t planning on looking for one other job, preferring as a substitute to give attention to parenting his kids as he went by his divorce. He by no means performed once more, and whereas he’s wanting numbers that can get him to Cooperstown, he’ll stay the yardstick by which multiposition gamers are measured. There are various who can play two or three positions competently, however there is just one Ben Zobrist.

86 Gamers known as “Ben Zobrist varieties” sorted by the yr they earned that comparability. pic.twitter.com/r3idBYezUT

— Silly Baseball (@FoolishBB) December 10, 2024